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Mark David Buckles, conductor and composer, is thrilled to fill the role of Director of Music at Arlington Street Church! Mark received his Masters of Music in Conducting at the Boston University College of Fine Arts, School of Music, studying under Dr. Ann Howard Jones. There, he led all of the Boston University small choral ensembles, which include the Chamber Chorus, Concert Choir, and Women's Chorale.
A native of Beverly Hills, Michigan, Mark received his Bachelors of Music in Composition from the University of Michigan, where he studied composition with Evan Chambers, William Bolcom, Karen Tanaka, Erik Santos and Susan Botti; and conducting with Jerry Blackstone, Theodore Morrison, and Sandra Snow. He also studied voice, piano, and carillon. Mark has received commissions from the University of Michigan Women's Glee Club, the University of Michigan Honors Convocation, Miller College, and Dixboro United Methodist Church, and his works have been performed and recorded by the University of Michigan Chamber Choir, the Boston Choral Ensemble and the Saint Petersburg String Quartet.
Mark is the co-founder and Music Director of Juventas, the acclaimed Boston-based New Music Ensemble dedicated to performing the works of young composers. Over the last two years, Juventas performed eleven concerts in venues across Boston, including six world premieres.Mark is a 2006 graduate of the Conductors' Institute at Bard College, where he studied with Harold Farberman, Apo Hsu, Raymond Harvey, Leon Botstein, Sidney Rothstein, Guillermo Figueroa, and Marin Alsop. In 2003 and 2005, Mark participated in the European American Music Alliance through the Juilliard School of Music, where he studied with Claude Baker, Philip Lasser, Nacis Bonet, and Mark Shapiro, and received honors for his studies in counterpoint and harmony.
A native of San Diego, California, is a member of the Voice faculty of Boston University, where she teaches German, French, Russian, Italian Spanish, and English language Song Literature as well as Italian and German Diction. Ms. Alexander has had the singular honor of performing with Ms. Frederica von Stade in two different fund-raising recitals in the Greater Boston Area.
Dr. Michelle Alexander has been the assistant chorus master/rehearsal pianist for the Boston Lyric Opera is currently the chorus master/assistant music director for Granite State Opera in Manchester, NH. She has been the music director of the Creede Repertory Theater in Creede, CO since 2005, where she has conducted Urinetown, Sweeney Todd, and Crazy for You after making her debut in Harbledown. Dr. Alexander was the conductor/music director for the Boston Opera Project's 2004 inaugural opera, Regina, and the 2005 New England premiere of Mark Adamo's Little Women. Dr. Alexander conducted the spring production of H.M.S. Pinafore in 2001 as well as South Pacific in 2005 with Fiddlehead Theater in Norwood, MA, and she will be conducting Pirates of Penzance in February of 2008 with the Riverside Theatre Works in Hyde Park, MA.
Dr. Alexander has been on the coaching staff of Florida Grand Opera, Minnesota Opera, Gold Coast Opera, and Glimmerglass Opera. Before moving to Boston in 1999, she was on the opera faculty at the New World School of the Arts in Miami, Florida. Dr. Alexander holds a Bachelor's degree in Piano Performance from the University of Michigan, a Master's Degree in Coaching/Accompanying from the New England Conservatory of Music, and a Doctorate in Coaching/Accompanying from the University of Minnesota.
Soprano Teresa Tam, described as having a “floating, gorgeous tone” by the San Francisco Classical Voice, joined the Taipei Philharmonic Choir at the age of twelve and has been singing ever since. After moving to the United States, Teresa built her reputation as a soprano soloist at the University of California, Davis, appearing in works such as Fauré’s Requiem, Benjamin Britten’s Rejoice of the Lamb, Handel’s Dettingen Te Deum, Terry Riley’s Sun Rings (a collaboration with the Kronos Quartet) and Igor Stravinsky’s choral ballet Les Noces. Other performances included collaborations with UC Davis’ Baroque Ensemble and Arcangeli Baroque Strings, performing Bach cantatas and Purcell’s Dido and Æneas (as Dido), and her debut with the American Bach Soloists as a soprano soloist in the Bach Magnificat.
While at UC Davis, Teresa studied with Jeffrey Thomas, Kern Holoman and David Nutter; during this period, she was the recipient of the David Saxon and Fannie Ronald Stein Memorial awards for excellence in early music and musical performance. Teresa is currently a student of Kendra Colton at Boston University, pursuing a Master of Music in Vocal Performance. Recent roles in the Boston area have included solos with the Boston University Men’s Chorale, Concert Choir, and Chamber Chorus in such varied works as Monteverdi’s Lamento della Ninfa, Igor Stravinsky’s Mass, and Mozart’s Verperas Solennes de Confessore. Her studies include workshops with the San Francisco Early Music Workshop, Oberlin Conservatory’s Baroque Performance Institute and the Longy School of Music’s International Baroque Institute and master classes with Judith Malafronte, Stephen Stubbs, Richard Miller, Max van Egmond, Nancy Zylstra, and Penelope Jensen.
When not performing, Teresa enjoys cooking, photography and Argentine Tango; she would especially like to thank her family and friends for their support, through which she can support her dream of making and sharing music.
Ariana Valdes grew up in Manchester, Connecticut where she began a career in the performing arts at a young age. Ariana has been a soloist in many competitions, recitals, and special events, been a member of local choirs, and has been in over 50 staged productions throughout Connecticut. She was a scholarship recipient of the Ensign-Darling Vocal Fellowship in association with The Bushnell in Hartford, CT from 2002-2004, which inspired her to pursue a serious career in classical voice and opera. Miss Valdes is pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance with an Emphasis in Opera from The Boston Conservatory, where she studies with Ms. Patty Thom. Ariana placed 2nd in the finals for NATS-Boston chapter in 2006. Recently, she sang the role of the narrator in Debussy's La Damoiselle Elue with The New England Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Richard Pittman.
Akira Fukui, baritone, is currently a senior Vocal Performance major pursuing his Bachelor of Music Degree from Boston University. Mr. Fukui is a member of the Boston University Symphonic Chorus and Boston University Chamber Chorus with whom he has been a soloist. This past year, Mr. Fukui sang the roles of The Husband (Amelia Goes to the Ball) and Guglielmo (Così fan tutte) for the BU Opera Workshop scenes program and was also a member of the ensemble for the second act world premiere of Jorge Martín's Before Night Falls in the BU Fringe Festival and in the men's chorus for Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia with the Newton Symphony. Mr. Fukui was also heard as the baritone soloist in Arvo Pärt's Passio Domini nostri Jesu Christi secundum Joannem with the Boston Choral Ensemble. This past summer he attended the Chautauqua Summer Voice Program under the direction of Marlena Malas. This fall, he will be singing Schubert's song cycle Die Schöne Müllerin as well as a concert in his hometown with the Pine Bluff Symphony Orchestra in Arkansas. Mr. Fukui is a student of Phyllis Hoffman.